Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental illness. It was once widely and incorrectly associated with war or grossly devastating events such as rape. However, these aren’t the only ways to develop PTSD.
The events which trigger this condition are often much smaller or seemingly insignificant, to onlookers, but still have a large impact on the individual.
What Is PTSD?
PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental health problem that often comes to light months after an event. It was originally called “shell shock” or “warrior’s heart”, but isn’t restricted to soldiers alone.
When something traumatic happens in your life, your world can change, becoming deeply distressing. Being unable to sleep, unable to feel safe, and experiencing flashes of anxiety and isolation are all signs of mental health struggles.
PTSD isn’t an indication of how upsetting the experience was, instead it reflects the impact of the event and how your mind is unable to handle the stress it caused.
People with PTSD often feel intensely negative emotions around concepts of the event which caused their condition. These emotions can lead to intensely disturbing thoughts, flashbacks to the event, nightmares, and overwhelming negative emotions such as sadness, anger, and fear, or they may find themselves disconnecting from the world or people around them.
The Signs And Symptoms Of PTSD
The signs and symptoms can be separated into 4 categories; intrusions, avoidance, alterations in mind, and alterations in reactions.
Intrusions
Intrusions are when someone experiences a thought, memory, or other mental reaction in relation to the traumatic event. The thought essentially trespasses onto their mind or appears without warning.
The most common instructions are intrusive thoughts and distressing dreams. However, the person may also experience flashbacks. These flashbacks are sometimes so vivid that the individual cannot escape them and begin to relive the experience.
Avoidance
Methods of avoidance aren’t always conscious. The individual may unknowingly avoid certain areas, people, or items that trigger memories of the event.
Avoiding the trigger can also be a conscious thought.
Sometimes avoidance doesn’t occur physically, but mentally as the person shuts down conversations about the topic or may refuse to think about it.
Some people find themselves fidgeting, switching between activities, or changing subjects subconsciously as they unknowingly avoid the topic.
Alterations In The Mind
Cognitive and mood changes are often connected to intrusive thoughts or avoidance, however, they present differently.
The individual may have thoughts or beliefs that distort the reality about themselves or the world around them. For example, they may strongly believe they are a bad person, or that they cannot trust anyone.
Survivor’s guilt is a strong example of this. When a person survives a large traumatic event in which others died, the survivor may blame themselves for not helping others during the catastrophe.
The individual’s emotions may change too, losing interest in the activities they once enjoyed, feeling disconnected from the world around them, or experiencing explosive emotions of anger, sadness, or even happiness.
An explosive feeling of happiness may not seem like a sign of PTSD, but it suggests an inability to control one’s emotions or even a sign of avoiding negative emotions.
Alterations In Reactions
The person’s reactivity or arousal may change due to the event. Arousal, in this context, means being aware of their surroundings. The individual may become overly watchful, looking for suspicious or startling activity. This can prevent them from concentrating or sleeping.
Alternatively, they may overreact, causing an angry outburst or easily becoming irritable. This is normally a sign of quick reaction times or an inability to stay calm.
PTSD Treatment
The most popular treatments for PTSD are cognitive therapy, exposure therapy, and EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing).
Cognitive therapy tries to structure the way you think about the event, helping to reduce intrusive thoughts.
Exposure therapy attempts to put you back into the area or memory that harmed you, through safe methods. The small and increasing levels of exposure are designed to reduce anxiety around the location, item, person, etc.
EMDR uses exposure therapy but through your eye’s rapid movements, tricking your brain into exposure. This is most helpful to people who understand their trauma but cannot get past it. There are advanced emdr training courses that help psychologists with more complex PTSD cases.
Final Thoughts
If you believe you have PTSD or that a friend has PTSD, get in contact with your doctor or a therapist. The condition can be successfully treated even years after the event took place. Although it may not be totally cured, you may develop safer or stronger methods to cope with the trauma.
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